Hello everyone out there. I’ve seen the movie twice now, and I’m ready to share my thoughts. Spoilers for The Last Jedi below, so if you haven’t seen it, come back when you have!
Let me begin by saying I loved the film! It was amazing, surprising, and shocking. After my first viewing I was left blown away at how much I didn’t expect. By the next day I was ready to go back. Luckily, or by good planning, I already had tickets for IMAX in Seattle for that night–two nights ago. It’s all sinked in, and here I am.
Rather than go over everything, which could take forever, I’ll keep this review short and sweet. Rest assured that every last detail of this movie will be dissected over the coming years.
Things I expected
The relationship between Finn and Rose went as I expected, with DJ as a voice to push Finn out of the rebellion. I also predicted that Rose would save Finn in some during the ski-speeder scene and that ended up being right.
I expected that Kylo Ren and Rey would “team up” to some extent, and defeat Snoke. I also predicted that Kylo would have a scene that mirrors the “Join me” scenes from ESB and AotC. They did, and it worked out great on screen. That said, how it actually went down was beyond my wildest expectations.
I expected that we would see Force-ghost Yoda, and I personally thought he looked great! No complaints. The puppet was well done in my opinion. After TPM, we were left wondering if anyone could create another Yoda puppet that looked as good as the original, and I believe they did.
I expected that Kylo Ren would balk at shooting Leia (scene from the trailer), further establishing his call to the light and conflict.
Things I didn’t expect
The things that I didn’t expect were probably the same things that a lot of people didn’t expect. Namely, I expected Snoke to to die and Luke to vanish in Episode IX...not TLJ! This caught me off guard. Now I’m left wondering what they’ll do in Episode IX. The best I can come up with is the “allies” that Leia mentioned will come join the new Rebellion, and there will be a huge battle and more. Kylo Ren will come to the light as per Rey’s vision, and defeat the First Order, which will be led by Hux. I have no idea how they will start off the next one without Leia and make it seem fluid.
I didn’t expect how all the space battles went down, and I didn’t expect Holdo to sacrifice herself.
I didn’t expect that I would like DJ so much, but I think he’s great. I really liked Del Toro’s portrayal, stutter and all.
The whole Force-projection thing caught me off guard big-time, and at first I was a little uneasy about it. After my second viewing and realizing that Yoda did this same thing in Rebels, it started to make more sense. It turned out to be a great plot device, and they set it up great with the exchanges between Kylo and Rey, which can also be interpreted as a Force-projection of some kind.
Overall, I loved this movie and really enjoyed my second viewing. How would I rank it in the episodic saga? It’s pretty tough. I would say its in the top-three, but could easily push up further as it all sinks in.
Bravo, Mr. Johnson!
brought to you by @davestrrr. Stay tuned to spoiledbluemilk.com for the best of Star Wars!